Germany loses out on highly-qualified immigrants

Germany is failing to attract highly-qualified immigrants, particularly in the IT industry, according to a report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Just 25,000 immigrants are recruited by German companies each year, far fewer than are appointed by British or Danish companies, which welcome between five and 10 times that number. German employers give two main reasons for this. One is the complex bureaucracy involved in recruiting employees from abroad, despite the introduction of the Blue Card in 2012, which allows workers earning lower salaries to be granted residence permits. The second factor is that advanced German language skills are often necessary to carry out certain roles and immigrants fluent in German are less easy to find. Small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany are also facing difficulties in forging relationships with international partners due to a lack of state incentives and policies.